A Destiny of Dragons (Tales From Verania #2)(127)

I shook my head. “No. It’s not. It’s just… strong.”

“You know where we’re going, don’t you?”

I didn’t even try to lie. “Yeah. How’d you know?”

“You’ve been leading us very deliberately. Like you knew.”

“It’s pulling me.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“What choice do we have?”

“There’s always a choice, Sam. We could turn around right now. Walk away. Go back to Castle Lockes. We don’t need to be here. We don’t even know if Vadoma’s telling the truth.”

“But what if she is?” I scrubbed my hands over my face. “Look, I get what you’re saying. I do. But Ryan, even if we think she’s full of shit, what if she’s not? I can’t take that chance. Not now. Not since we’re so close.”

“I’m not scared.”

“I know.” Because he really was of the fearless sort.

“I’m worried.”

“I know that too.”

He jerked his head. “Keep on?”

“Keep on.”

“Keep on,” Tiggy agreed.




IT WAS in the center of the dome. I figured it would be. There was a circular opening at the top of the dome, and when the sun was at its peak, I was sure the light shone straight down inside. But it was past that already, for better or worse.

And I thought it was probably worse.

Because before us was a large circular hole dug into the earth and rock.

Like something big had burrowed down deep underground.

“That’s a big motherfucking snake,” I breathed. “This can’t possibly be good. We can probably go home now.”

Ryan and Tiggy crouched near the edge and peered into the hole. There wasn’t enough light to see very far down, so it was impossible to tell just how deep it went. But I’d seen how large the cavern that surrounded the island was now that the sand was gone. The pillar had reached all the way to the bottom. For all I knew, there were multiple tunnels dug through. Which meant there could be other holes somewhere in the dome.

Ryan and Tiggy looked up at the wheezing groan that came out of me. I waved my hand at them, trying to get them to ignore me, but Ryan stared at me expectantly.

“What?” I said, trying not to sound irritated. I didn’t think I succeeded.

“Do your thing,” he said, standing up. “You know. Like, magic. Or something.”

“Like magic or something,” I repeated flatly.

He shrugged. “You gotta call the dragon up somehow, right?”

“Why do I have to call it up? You call it up if you want to see it so bad—wait. Right. Destiny of dragons and all that. My bad. Still hate that word, by the way.”

“You okay?”

“Fine,” I said. “Just fine. So what if you want me to call up a gigantic snake dragon monster thing whatever just to watch it slither around all unnaturally.”

“Sam scared of snakes,” Tiggy said helpfully. Like an asshole.

“I’m not scared of snakes,” I said. “I would just like it if they never existed near me at all. Or anywhere ever. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”

“But it’s not a snake,” Ryan said. “It’s a dragon.”

“Thank you, Ryan. That was very helpful. I truly appreciate it.”

He squinted at me. “Why didn’t I know this about you? It’s a little adorable. You’re trembling.”

I scowled at him. “Shut up. It’s not adorable. I’m not scared.”

“Okay, then,” he said, bending over quickly and scooping up a chunk of rock. “Then you wouldn’t mind if I dropped this down the hole just to see if we can get this thing up here.”

He held out his arm over the opening, stone in hand.

And smirked.

“Ho, don’t you do it!” I squeaked. And then coughed. “I mean, uh. We don’t want to hurt it, Ryan. Gosh. That would just be mean, okay? I’ll… I’ll take care of it.” I licked my lips.

“All right.” He took a step back and nodded toward the hole. “Get to it.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I’ll just… do. That.”

I took a step toward the edge, already imagining the snake dragon monster thing that would come for me the moment I opened my mouth. It would probably be the largest thing in the world and would have really big fangs and spit poison in my mouth as it wrapped around me and slowly choked me, its tail rattling back and forth, its slit-eyes trained on me as it slowly drove me insane from fear. I’d probably end up shitting myself.

We took the worst trips.

I hated destinies with a passion.

I looked down into the hole. Cleared my throat. Opened my mouth and said, “Hey. Uh. Dragon.”

Nothing happened.

“Um. So. Do you want to come up here or…?”

Silence.

“No? That’s… uh. Cool. I’m totally cool with that. You do you, dude. That’s the only way to be.”

Ryan snorted from behind me.

I glared over my shoulder at him. “What?”

“Nothing,” he said, holding up a hand to placate me. “I just wonder what the rest of Verania would think if they heard the guy that’s supposed to save them trying to summon a dragon saying you do you, dude.”